Compassion
by Gatemage
Summary: He didn't know what he was missing until he met HER. She changed him, now a disgrace to his people, he has one thing left. His Highlord


He had once been as cold and distant as the stars in the heavens, as quick to flare in anger as a wildfire, striking everyone without any type of remorse. He had been forced to work with others, humans, others of his people, new creatures alien to his world known as Draconians, and hobgoblins. None of them understood him, for he was different from the rest of his people, in ways he would never describe. But he was paired with a human woman who had changed his view of the world. A pathetic mortal, he had thought of the woman at the time, with the lifespan of a mayfly. He had begun to see that there was more to life than just surviving it because of the human. He saw he was not so mighty as he had believed. He began to understand humans better than he had ever cared to or wanted to. This human woman taught him things about life that had never known to exist. She had taught him compassion and loyalty. Before he met this human female, those had just been words to him, words of little to no consequence. Now that he knew what the words meant, and knew the feelings they described, he could feel them burning within him as he was with this human female. He could never dream of leaving this human now, she was his partner, his equal. They were a team, Dragon and human, Skie and Kitiara uth Matar.

He had not known what bound him to this human, but now he did. Before he had met Kitiara, Skie had not understood why humans always traveled in groups, he had given it very little thought, considering them weak fleshy beings, no where near being able to hold intelligence. He had once thought them nothing more than beasts. Kitiara had taken control, she had fought with such relish, Skie thought her a dragon in human form. He respected he, another word that held meaning that it had not before. He had honored his goddess, but he had never understood what respect was. He now knew what it was, it having been brought out by the strategy and cunning of his rider. He didn't understand how knowing a human could change his view of the world, but it had. He respected her, he respected her judgment, and thusly, he was a liaison between his people and the Dragon Highlord, as the leaders of the units of riders were known as. Most of his people considered Skie to be weak now; he was "contaminated" by the weakness of his rider, they said, but they were wrong. Skie understood the humans better than they did, even when he didn't agree with Kitiara's strategies, he knew that she was to be listened to, she had their Queen's orders for what she was to do, the Dragons were there only to assure that the humans followed orders, not that he needed to watch Kitiara, she was completely dedicated to their Queen.

So for these feeling he had never known before, more than his Queen's orders, Skie found himself in the frigid southlands, far from where his people, the blue dragons, belonged. He didn't want to be here, it was not safe for his people to be in this cold, but he would only voice the concerns of the others and voice a select few of his thoughts to his human, not wanting to upset her. He knew that what she said went, whether his people liked it or not. She was the one in charge, even as most dragons thought they were better than the humans who rode them, the dragons had to follow the orders that the humans had to follow, but those orders came from the same place, their Queen. No dragon would willingly disobey an order from the Queen of Darkness, their goddess. Skie knew nothing he said would change Kitiara's mind, but the other dragons in the flight thought that Skie could change Kitiara's mind. Not that it mattered to Skie. He would have traveled to the ends of the world and back, to the dark moon and back, if it was Kitiara's wish that he did so.

Kitiara refused to leave; she knew that the people she was looking for would be there soon. Skie had known that she wouldn't leave, so he didn't bother pressing the matter farther. She spoke to him, explaining that she would know when they got there. Kitiara knew that those she was looking for would be in the city of Tarsis soon, and that was why they were where they were. Skie had asked her once who they were searching for, and she described three men. She spoke of a man, a giant some called him, she said he was very tall and very strong for a human, she said that he was someone she knew from long ago, a young man of great strength and height. She spoke of another man, a smaller sickly man, a young mage, the giant's twin brother. From reports of the death of Lord Verminaard, both knew the mage to be of the red robes, have white hair and gold tinted skin. It was said that the young mage was far more powerful than he appeared to be. The third man whom the Highlord described to her mount was of the most interest to the dragon's mind. He was a man, one with reddish hair and a beard, and, if the reports from sources that saw the death of Lord Verminaard were to be believed, he was a half-elf. These descriptions puzzled Skie, he did not understand why the Highlord wanted these men, but he knew it was senseless to argue with her. What Skie didn't know was that the twins were the Highlord's half brothers, and that the half-elf loved the Highlord.

Finally the day came, where the dragonarmy was on the move. Skie took to the skies with joy once the Draconian spy who had been in the city returned with the news that the men that the Highlord was searching for were in the city. The dragons all took to the sky with their mounts, dropping Draconian soldiers in to the chaos of the city streets to search for the men that heir commander ordered them to find. The Draconians did manage to find the men, but the mage collapsed the inn that he and his twin were in with their companions, making it near impossible for them to have survived and thusly, impossible for the Draconians to find them. Skie knew that Kitiara would be upset by the loss of those she sought, but he was glad that they would be traveling north once more, into the warm lands that his people were meant to live in. As they were leaving, Kitiara spotted a group escaping on griffins, and she ordered a number of her soldiers to chase the griffins, but allowed the rest of the flight to return to the Northlands. Her men were not able to catch the griffin riders, enraging the Highlord, but she eventually calmed down.

She took to the skies many times on her loyal dragon after that, almost forgetting about the men she had sought in Tarsis. But the day came where she realized that she had not lost her prize completely. He stumbled into her, completely by accident, and it had been a wonderful moment for her. She was in the city of Flotsam when she saved the life of a man in the uniform of her troops. Upon a second look, the man turned out to be the half-elf she had been looking for in Tarsis. She was elated, as well as shocked, to find him dressed in the armor of the dragonarmies, she had never thought that she would be fighting along side of him, as he was a half-elf and elves would never serve Takhisis. She spent several nights with her half-elven lover, and then found herself against another figure from the past. She was fighting a battle on Skie, when she realized that the man who stood before her was one of the boys who she had grown up with. She had returned to find that the half-elf had lied to her; he was not in the dragonarmies. He was still her enemy, not her ally. She was infuriated, and she took to the skies on Skie, chasing down the ship that the half-elf was on, having learned that the key to winning the war was aboard that ship with the half-elf. Skie was not confident when he realized hat the Highlord was riding into a storm, he had no wish to go into the storm at all, but Kitiara did, and that was what mattered to him.

They almost caught the key, the man known as Berem, the Green Gemstone Man. But Kitiara looked at the others on the ship, and she saw her brothers and the half-elf. Just seeing the half-elf would not have deterred her, but that she saw the twins, Caramon, finally a warrior like he had always dreamed, and Raistlin, a mage of the red robes, finally powerful. She knew that he would not stay in the red robes, he had always wished for power, much the same as she had. She saw something in Raistlin's eyes, those frightening golden hourglass eyes, which stopped her from attacking. She hesitated for a moment, and then she turned and left, much to Skie's relief. They few back to the city, where Kitiara seethed with rage for days. Skie stayed out of her way to the best of his ability, but he had to return to her side in time for battles, not that it mattered; Kitiara had already cast aside the anger, a trait that other humans needed to learn, in Skie's opinion. Now, he cast aside the past and concentrated on the future, a future in which he and his human would be victorious, standing tall beside the Dark Queen, keeping order on this world once the Queen won the war.


End file.
